SLIDER

So the old woody back Transit project had been sold on and was sat rusting away for 12 months before being bought back by the previous owner.

Some questionable work had been done to it and with plans for it to come with me to a hot-rod show I didn’t want it there looking the way it did, with my name on it.

The worst crime committed to it was the paint, it had been rattle can painted with red and brown aerosol to try and create the look of rust but instead created the look of vandalism. Bit of a shame as I thought the original diamond white paint really suited it.

So with a week to get it sorted and a massive list of work to get it looking cool and roadworthy again I got to it.

I started rubbing down the cab with the plan to paint it one flat colour but as I was rubbing off the red and brown it was looking kinda cool so I started adding a few bits of extra red here and there along with some black and eventually ended up with a kind of patina effect.

Over the top of that went some 2 pack satin lacquer to seal it.

Then onto the back end where some arches were made from an old drum.

Step sides made from scaffold planks.

And a bit of router work on the tailgate.

There was an old aluminium motorcycle ramp checked in the back so I cut that up and added a bit of aluminium into the mix.

The engine was still the old trusty 2.0 Pinto but plans were being made to stick a 6bt Cummins engine in the rear bed with Jaguar IRS rear suspension but the old transit has since been sold on again so I will have to save that idea for another future project.

The trusty steed made it to the show and was well received, as with all of my builds some people love it, some people hate it and some people just don’t know what to make of it, but that’s the idea!

The MK2 Transit Step Side Gen 2 was last modified: March 14th, 2018 by Matt Urch

I bought it from an old boy who had owned it for decades. He was quite attached to it, but said he was happy for me to breath some new life into it.

Although I did tell him I was planning to restore it rather than mutilate it.

The bike ran great and had been well looked after so I got straight to the chopping.

I stripped it to a bare frame the cut the whole rear half off just leaving the engine cradle, I cut off all the unwanted tabs, welded up any holes and smoothed out any nasty looking welds.

Then I got the frame jigged up on the bench with more of a tilt to rake out the front forks and set about making a new rear end. This was made from scrap metal out of the bin, the seat pan was cut from a gas bottle and I cut the bosses for the shock mounts out of the old frame and reused them to mount the shocks.

I extended the standard swing arm by 6 inches and added some mounts with additional holes so the height of the rear could be adjusted.

Then it was onto the foot controls, again all made from old junk welded together with some foot pegs I spun up on the lathe.

The fuel tank was made from an old jerry can cut up and welded back together, I reused the fuel tap and frame mounts from the old tank.

I removed all the unwanted electrics and ended up with just 2 switches for the whole bike, one to make it run and another 2 position switch for high and low beam, the side lights were on constant as soon as the bike was running.

My favourite part of the bike is the exhaust not only for the looks but it makes this 200cc motor sound awesome.

Last off was some 2k satin clear coat on the frame, nato green for the tank, I had the chrome wheels basted then painted satin black, deep cleaned all the parts and added a few new parts here and there.

I wanted to try and build a bike that was different to anything else I had seen, with the insane amount of custom bikes knocking around this is quite an ask but I think I might have done it.

For my first attempt at a custom bike I’m pretty happy with it but I already have the next bike planned out and its even weirder than this one, so keep your eyes out for that in the near future.

To see and hear this thing bob along in real time check this vid!

The Honda CD 200 Rat Bobber was last modified: March 14th, 2018 by Matt Urch

So less than 12 months after the finish of the drift rod build I was sat in the workshop feeling pretty disappointed with the outcome of all my hard graft. I had built something that was only doing half the job it was intended for.

It got all the attention and was a great advert for business but when it came to drifting it required so much commitment to get it to drift properly that it made it scary to drive.

Worse than this was the fact that I has smashed it into an Armco barrier badly bending the front end of the car.

Luckily a friend of mine came to the rescue with his chassis jig and pulled it back straight again and I was back on track within a matter of weeks. But I was never happy with the fact that things had been bent around, It was getting annoying that some parts weren’t quite lining up how they used to when I had spent so long getting everything right.

So with that I got the grinder out and started hacking.

I completely redesigned and rebuilt the front end and front suspension arms. I wanted to simplify the front and make everything easier to adjust at the track.

I made the strut tops one fixed point and made a 2 piece bottom arm which was adjustable for caster/camber without needing to jack up the car and remove bolts.

The main issue when trying to drift it was it constantly wanted to snap back straight unless you were flat on the throttle or on the handbrake. I put a lot of this down to the extremely short wheelbase and wide track width so I decided to lengthen the wheelbase.

I puled the front the front struts forward slightly to gain a bit and also moved the axle backwards 5 inches, this meant making a new bumper bar too.

I also stuck a bigger turbo and some larger injectors on there for a bit more poke.

With all the extra fab work done I though I might as well change the look so went with some olive drab military paint to finish it off.

There were a lot of little things that got rushed in the original build that I wasn’t happy with so this gave me the chance to go back and sort all those also.

The end result was a massive improvement, the car was actually enjoyable to drive. It still took some commitment but I’m getting used to that.

It would have been nice to get it right first time around but that’s all part of the learning process. Before starting this project I would have said that I was pretty clued up when it came to setting up a car but this build showed me that I only knew the very basics.

By far the best part of building this car has been the massive amount of knowledge I have gained doing it.

Here’s a video me and my brother made to unveil the new look.

The Drift Rod Rebuild was last modified: March 14th, 2018 by Matt Urch